On 6 July 2018, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 38/13 by consensus, welcoming the work of OHCHR on improving accountability and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuse, and requesting OHCHR to continue its work in this area and, specifically:

"to identify and analyse challenges, opportunities, best practices and lessons learned with regard to non-state-based grievance mechanisms that are relevant to the respect by business enterprises for human rights, . . . and to submit a report thereon to the Human Rights Council for consideration at its forty-fourth session." (OP 9, emphasis added)

In response to this request from the Human Rights Council, OHCHR launched the third phase of its Accountability and Remedy Project (ARP III) (background on the approach of the Accountability and Remedy Project and its first two phases may be found at the bottom of this page).

The project began with a scoping exercise that resulted in a November 2018 paper setting out the project’s proposed methodology and scope. For ARP III, we will be focussing on routinized, non-State-based, non-judicial processes (in other words, private mechanisms) through which grievances concerning business-related human rights abuse can be raised, and remedy can be sought. We are prioritising three types of mechanisms:

Company-based grievance mechanisms: mechanisms established and administered by companies;

Grievance mechanisms developed by industry, multi-stakeholder, or other collaborative initiatives: mechanisms external to companies that administer a set of commitments that the companies have agreed to adhere to; and

Mechanisms associated with development finance institutions: mechanisms through which those adversely impacted by institution-financed projects can seek remedy (e.g., independent accountability mechanisms).

Further, we have organised our 2018-2020 work programme into five work streams:

Work stream 1: ways to meet the “effectiveness criteria” of Guiding Principle 31;

Work stream 2: the relationship between State-based institutions and non-State-based grievance mechanisms (the “public-private” interface);

Work stream 4: safeguarding rights-holders from retaliation resulting from the use of non-State-based grievance mechanisms; and

Work stream 5: meaningful stakeholder involvement in the design and implementation of remedial outcomes.

Information about ARP III activities may be found below. Updated information and documents related to ARP III will be posted on this webpage as they become available. For any questions or comments regarding the ARP III work, please contact business-access2remedy@ohchr.org.

Documents

This section includes official UN documents and documents developed by OHCHR.

Events, Meetings, Etc.

This section includes certain events and other types of meetings in which OHCHR took part or is planning to take part. If you would like to notify the ARP III team of, or invite us to, relevant events, or propose organizing an event with us, please contact business-access2remedy@ohchr.org.

2020 OHCHR ARP III Consultation, Switzerland, TBD

2019 OHCHR ARP III Consultation, Switzerland, November 2019

2019 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights Session(s), Switzerland, November 2018

Substantial contributions by external organizations

This section contains substantial contributions that have been submitted to the ARP III team, and which can be made public. If you are interested in submitting research to us, please contact business-access2remedy@ohchr.org. Some suggested research proposals can be found in this document.

Background on the Accountability and Remedy Project

The Accountability and Remedy Project aims to strengthen implementation of the “Access to Remedy” pillar of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Since its launch in 2014, this multi-year project has examined the access to remedy challenges at the national level and the actions (legal, policy-related, and practical) likely to be most effective at addressing them. To ensure that our findings are globally relevant and implementable, information is collected from as many jurisdictions as possible, drawn from all UN regional groupings, and reflecting a wide range of legal structures, systems and traditions. Contributions are encouraged from as many stakeholders as possible in order to build a thorough understanding of the needs and perspectives of users of grievance mechanisms in a range of contexts.

OHCHR’s findings arising from the two completed phases of work (which related to State-based grievance mechanisms) have been distilled into a series of “policy objectives,”, supported by “elements” intended to demonstrate the different ways that those objectives can be achieved in practice. This deliberately flexible format was chosen to be readily adaptable to different legal systems and contexts, while also being practical, forward-looking and reflective of international standards on access to remedy. OHCHR’s recommended actions in relation to judicial mechanisms can be found in the annex of its 2016 report to the Human Rights Council. Its recommended actions on the use of State-based non-judicial mechanisms are set out in the annex of its 2018 report.

The present phase of this project (ARP III) aims to build on this previous work. In accordance with the Human Rights Council’s most recent mandate, ARP III focuses on non-State-based grievance mechanisms.